The U.S. government has transferred a small amount of Bitcoin seized from Alameda Research's Binance.US accounts three years ago, renewing attention on how federal agencies will handle the remaining assets.
Arkham Reports the Transaction
Arkham Intelligence reported the transaction on Aug. 26, describing the amount as small and tracing the Bitcoin to Alameda accounts on Binance.US that U.S. authorities seized three years earlier. The blockchain analytics firm did not publish the amount in its indexed post or identify the receiving address. Arkham also did not say that officials had sold the Bitcoin, leaving the transaction's purpose unconfirmed.
Moving Bitcoin between addresses records a change in custody or location on the blockchain, but the transaction alone does not show whether the asset has been sold. A transfer to another government wallet may involve custody, accounting, or security management, while movement to an exchange can make a future sale possible without proving one occurred. This case adds to the broader pattern of crypto asset recovery and tracking that has become increasingly visible on public blockchains.
Alameda Assets Have Moved Several Times in 2026
Federal wallets have processed other seized assets tied to Alameda and FTX during 2026. In May, Arkham said the government moved about $1.89 million in Render, Uniswap, The Sandbox, Mask Network, and Axie Infinity tokens to Coinbase Prime. Another transaction followed in June, when government-controlled wallets transferred nearly $984,000 in FTX- and Alameda-linked cryptocurrency. At least $768,000 of the total went to Coinbase Prime.
In July, U.S. government-linked wallets transferred nearly $297 million in seized Bitcoin and Ether to Coinbase Prime. The transaction included about 3,940 BTC and 30,014 ETH tied to separate enforcement cases. Federal wallets had also moved more than $33 million in Alameda-linked cryptocurrency in December 2024. These movements underscore the complex intersection of crypto seizures and institutional custody, a theme also relevant to the Bitcoin market dynamics tracked by institutional participants.
U.S. Reserve Rules Limit Some Bitcoin Sales
President Donald Trump's March 2025 executive order established the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and directed the Treasury Department to fund it with Bitcoin forfeited through criminal or civil proceedings. Under the order, Bitcoin deposited into the reserve cannot be sold and must remain a U.S. reserve asset. The White House order does not place every seized coin under an absolute ban on disposal. It allows agencies to return assets to verified victims, comply with court orders, support law enforcement operations, and meet requirements under federal forfeiture laws.
No federal agency has said whether the Bitcoin moved on Aug. 26 had entered the reserve, remained assigned to the FTX recovery process, or fell under one of the order's exceptions. Alameda Research operated as the trading firm associated with FTX before the exchange collapsed in November 2022. A federal jury convicted FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried in November 2023 on seven counts, and U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan sentenced him to 25 years in prison in March 2024.
